Breakdown of Jeg tok bussen for en time siden.
jeg
I
bussen
the bus
ta
to take
for en time siden
an hour ago
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Questions & Answers about Jeg tok bussen for en time siden.
Why is tok used instead of har tatt?
In Norwegian, when you specify exactly when something happened (here with for en time siden), you use the simple past tense. The verb ta (“to take”) becomes tok in the simple past. The present perfect (har tatt) is reserved for actions that either have relevance now or have no precise time marker, e.g. Jeg har tatt bussen før (“I have taken the bus before”).
Why is it bussen instead of buss?
Norwegian marks definiteness by adding a suffix to the noun. bussen literally means the bus. When talking about taking public transport in general, you normally use the definite form (just like English “I took the bus”). If you said en buss, you’d be referring to “a bus” in the sense of any one bus, not “the” familiar or regular bus.
What does for en time siden literally mean, and why is it translated as “an hour ago”?
Literally it’s for one hour since. In usage, for + time unit + siden is the fixed structure to express “ago” in Norwegian. So for en time siden = an hour ago.
Can I drop for and just say en time siden?
No. When you use siden to mean “ago,” you must precede it with for plus the time unit. En time siden without for is considered incorrect in Norwegian.
Can I move for en time siden to the beginning of the sentence?
Yes. Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule. If you start with the time expression you write:
For en time siden tok jeg bussen.
How do I express that I waited for an hour (a duration), not that something happened an hour ago?
Use i + time unit for durations. For example, Jeg ventet i en time means “I waited for an hour.” In contrast, for en time without siden wouldn’t mean the same and sounds odd.
Is the word siden here the same as the conjunction since, as in Siden jeg var liten?
Yes, it’s the very same word. With for before it, for … siden means “ago.” Without for, at the start of a clause, siden functions as a conjunction meaning “since” (because) or “since” in the temporal sense.